Jobless Rate Remain Unchanged

Phoenix, AZ – The Department of Commerce pegged the seasonally adjustedunemployment rate at 9.6 percent. You may recall hearing at thetime the rate was 9.4 percent. Well, it turns out that wasn'taccurate. Using new year-end data, agency officials recalculatedthe figures for the last two years. Not only does it turn outthat the real December rate was 9.6, but that it actually peakedat 10.4 percent in November of 2009 -- when the agency wastelling everyone the rate was just 9.3 percent. The agency'sAruna Murthy said the new numbers make it unlikely the rate willdrop below 9 percent any time this year. But Murthy said sheremains convinced that companies will be hiring -- eventually --to keep up with increased demand for products and services.

(We have observed that they have paid employees a little bit moreand they are squeezing more out of the employees. And that can goon only for a short period of time. Either they need to hire morepeople, or people will start leaving. That's how generally thingswork.)

Murthy said there already are some indications that companieswhich laid off workers during the last two years are beginning tohire.

(But, again, it'll take some time. It's not going to be like howit has happened in the past, that we start seeing a gain inemployment numbers very quickly.)